Hi, I'm posting the same comment on several posts as I have been so incredibly disappointed with my KA dishdrawers. I want to help others not make the same mistake. I own the KitchenAid KUDD03DTSS. Be aware that they look great, have great options, LOVE the flexibility of two drawers. But, their primary function - CLEANING? Absolutely horrible. Dishes do not come clean. The crummy little dishwasher I had when I was in a temporary rental was so much better. I have to pre-wash everything. The dishes must go in the dishwasher without any specs or stains (as in coffee mugs) The coffee mugs come out with full stains. This is the most frustrating experience I have ever had - paid top dollar for a clearly inferior cleaning job. It is so embarrassing when i have company - I feel like I have to quickly re-wash my dishes to make sure they are clean. (Yes, I have tried 3 brands of detergent, those little gel packs, and always have rinse-aid) Summary - if you want a dishwasher that looks good, is expensive, and will do a great job of getting your dishes warmed up, this is the model for you. If you actually care about clean dishes, look elsewhere. Or, I could just sell you mine at a very good price. : ) Anita

We installed the 27" version of the Kitchenaid, the KEMS378SSS, in our kitchen remodel a few months ago. I've never had a convection microwave before, but have used the convection feature for frozen goods like pizza. There it seemed to perform fine. The controls take care of converting a normal recipe to convection temps and times. However, I've only used the dedicated oven for true baking like roasts and bread. It is initially a bit inconvenient figuring out which trays or sheets to use with the upper oven, as it comes with a bunch of accessories for microwaving and others for convection, and am not sure what stuff for the normal oven would work. The biggest concern I researched here beforehand was that if the microwave fails, repairing it is really costly, and you can't just replace the microwave unit. However, just a few months in, my real concern is the robustness of everything else. First, when the power was cycled on, the unit gives a Door Latch Not Operating error code. Can't clear it with the controls, but figured out if you open the door it will clear. Recently I cooked a pizza in the lower oven, and after it cooled there was another error to replace something - could not clear this one at all except to reset the breaker. There's a long thread about failures when self-cleaning because of overheating. The unit blows a lot of hot air out during cooking - apparently this is also to prevent the electronics from overheating. I can understand this after roasting something for an hour, but sometime microwaving leftovers for just two minutes causes the fan to blow for another five minutes! The oven won't work at all if there is an error code showing, so does not inspire confidence for the long run.

A major point raised often w.r.t. hoods but missing from this OTR microwave oven topic is blower performance vs. blower rating. Blowers are generally rated by the air flow that they can induce when hanging in free space. This is the zero static pressure volumetric flow rate (CFM). When one reads the rating of a Broan/Best/Abbaka/Fantech/etc. blower, this is the number given. In use with other equipment, whether hood, hood filters, duct, etc., or microwave oven passages, filters, duct or not, etc., the achieved volumetric flow rate is significantly lower. Blower manufacturers such as those listed above will provide graphs or tables of the effect of back pressure (pressure loss in HVAC terms) on achieved flow rate. Whereas a hood system can be built so that the filters (preferably baffles for the higher end units) are the dominant restriction, microwave ovens filters, particularly those used for recirculation, cause much more pressure loss for a given flow rate, and this is exacerbated by the narrow passages the air may have to flow through to get around the oven. As a result, unless the manufacturer actually specifies the flow rate of the microwave oven blower system when in place, one should hope that the resulting CFM is above 100 typical, and maybe approaching 200 for the 500 CFM rated devices. These rates over the plume expansion area at the OTR height are generally inadequate. While not a fan of VaH due to their years of claiming magic performance, their recirculating hood has been reported on here as providing good results. While the initial cost may be highish, I recall a discussion of what the actual consumables costs were over time. The link below is the one with this discussion, as I recall. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2347276/vent-a-hood-ductless-ars-range-hood-update#n=65

I think on this forum you'll find those who like MW drawers, and those who like other options. Not trying to sway you, but I'll just share why I loved my MW drawer. (In fact I've had two bc I liked the first so much.) Here's what I like about the drawer: Ability to see the control panel from above, vs bending down to see it Ability to see food from the top, without bending down, and to lift dishes up from the top Ability to close the control panel (I had a Sharp) for a very sleek look Kept the counter clear (equal benefit if you're installing a pull down below the counter) Mostly, for me, it was because my family is all tall and we all liked that we didn't have to bend down to see the controls, view/stir food, or pull dishes out. The only downside I found is that since the drawer is built in, it's more expensive than an on the counter or on a shelf type model if you need to replace it. ETA: the appliance store guy told you "drawer is slow to open and close and shakes enough to spill liquids when sliding"... My feeling is that the drawer might seem a bit slow to open/close, but that is precisely to prevent spills. If his shook enough to spill, then I'd say it wasn't installed very well. (Mine did not shake.) Also, if I had to bend over to see and pull something out, and I pulled it out faster than how fast the drawer opens, then I'd probably be likely to spill it. Just my opinion.